


Another Starry Night

by StrangeMischief



Category: Doctor Strange (2016), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, M/M, Tony and Pepper are engaged, stephen strange centric
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-24
Updated: 2018-07-24
Packaged: 2019-06-15 15:59:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,440
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15416499
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StrangeMischief/pseuds/StrangeMischief
Summary: “Don’t be an asshole, Strange,” Stark bit back, shoving his way into the Sanctum. “I watched you blow away in the wind like fucking ticker tape. The least you could’ve done was let me know you came back in one piece.”





	Another Starry Night

**Author's Note:**

> Figured I needed to write something with a nice ending for once. Enjoy <3

_ Another Starry Night _

 

He hadn’t expected anyone to come looking for him once those who had been “snapped” had returned. The only person he really had left to care about his wellbeing was Wong, and the other sorcerer hadn’t even known Stephen was ever snapped in the first place.

 

No, Stephen hadn’t expected anyone to come in the middle of the sweltering summer night, fist pounding on the Sanctum door, to check up on him like so many others were doing their loved ones.

 

Least of all, Tony Stark.

 

“You’re here.” The billionaire breathed out in relief the moment Stephen’s face appeared in the doorway.

 

“Where else would I be?” Stephen questioned, arching a single brow.  

 

“Don’t be an asshole, Strange,” Stark bit back, shoving his way into the Sanctum. “I watched you blow away in the wind like fucking ticker tape. The least you could’ve done was let me know you came back in one piece.”

 

Stark spun around, setting his fiery gaze upon the sorcerer as he continued his rant. “Do you know how long it took me to find this Haunted Mansion look alike? _Days._ Days, I’ve been running around looking for you!”

 

“Well, you needn’t have bothered,” Stephen ground out, turning away.

 

“I _needn’t have bothered?_ Are you serious?”

 

“Why are you here, Stark?” he sighed.

 

 _“_ Because I…You fucking died, Stephen!”

Stephen turned back to stare at Stark.

“You were dead,” he whispered, his blazing eyes boring into Stephen’s. “I needed to know you were back. I-I need…”

 

He didn’t finish.

They stood still, staring into each other’s rapidly darkening eyes.

 

Both knew what he would have said.

 

\---

 

It was almost worth it.

 

Being kidnapped by an alien.

 

Having surgical needles pierce his skin while floating through space.

 

Watching Thanos hold the time stone between his fingers.

 

Floating away on the breeze.

 

Feeling his body stitch itself back together and waking up with a shout on the Sanctum floor.

 

It was almost all worth it, just to have crossed paths with Stark. Just for this. To see his eyes darken with desire. To hear his throaty moan as he pushed forward desperately. To feel his hands, his lips, _him._

 

Stephen buried his face in Stark’s neck and dug his nails into the other man’s back, wanting, needing, to be closer. And as the world crashed around him and he cried Tony’s name, Stephen tried to not think about how this would be all he’d ever have of Tony Stark. Of how he already knew he’d wake up alone in the morning.

 

\---

 

When the recruitment meeting finally, _finally,_ ends Stephen barely makes it out the door and down the hall before he’s found.

 

“I didn’t know Fury invited you,” Tony’s smooth voice remarks from behind him.

 

Stephen doesn’t turn. “Invited isn’t the word I’d use, Stark,” he grumbles. His hands weave through the air, and a crackling portal to the Sanctum opens.  

 

“You can call me Tony, you know.”

 

Stephen makes the mistake of turning to look at the billionaire’s warm, honey eyes. He sighs, shoves aside the aching in his chest, and steps through the open portal. “No, I really can’t.”

  

\---

 

Stephen made it past Halloween before he saw Tony again.

 

He’s on his way back to the Sanctum from the deli when a slightly shorter figure falls into step beside him.

 

“Can I ask you something?”

 

“Will you go away if I do?” Stephen asked, acidly.

 

Tony’s mouth pulled to the side in a crooked smile. “If that’s what you want.”

 

“Then ask.”

 

“Was this really the one way to win?”

 

Stephen contemplated it for a moment. “It depends on how you define winning.”

 

“Thanos dead; stones safe.”

 

The sorcerer almost grins at the bluntness of it. “No.”

 

 “No, what?”

 

“No, it wasn’t the only way,” Stephen elaborates.

 

Tony’s step falters. “Then why this one? What made this the best option?”

 

“Why do you care?”

 

Tony pulled his sunglasses off and cast a scrutinizing gaze towards Stephen. “Did you see this far? Into this future?”

 

“No.”

 

“How far then?”

 

Stephen clenched his jaw. “Up until the morning after you came to the Sanctum.”

 

He walks through the front door of said Sanctum and slams it shut before Tony can interrogate him any further.

 

\---

 

Stephen couldn’t help but feel a surge of affection as he watched Peter dance excitedly around the lopsided chocolate cake his aunt carried. “Peter!” she warned sharply. “Not until after midnight! Now, don’t jostle me or there will be no cake for anyone!”

 

That seemed to be all the cautioning he needed. “Sorry, Aunt May,” he replied sheepishly.

 

Stephen turned back to the frosted window with a chuckle. Peter was usually animated, but the handful of caffeinated drinks he’d drank in preparation for staying awake the entirety of “the most amazing New Year’s party ever” brought a whole new meaning to the word energetic.

 

“I’ve got another question.”

 

Stephen jerked and nearly knocked Tony over. “Damnit don’t do that!” he hissed angrily.

 

Tony ignored the other man’s irritated attitude and continued on as if he’d said nothing. “Would you ever do it over?”

 

“What do you mean?” he asked with a frown.

 

“Thanos. Titan. The whole shebang.”

 

Stephen didn’t even have to think about it. He already knew. “If I had to do it again, I would.”

 

“Exactly the same?”

 

“Yes.”

 

Tony, thankfully, went silent. Stephen turned back to the window and watched the lazily drifting snow flash through the beams of light the streetlamps cast. He could hear the party goers enthusiastically counting down the final minute of the year behind him. It was peaceful. And, naturally, short-lived.

 

“But…why?”

 

“Everyone lives,” Stephen answers as if it’s the most obvious thing in the world. “Everyone’s happy.”

 

“Are they?” Tony asks.

 

Stephen turns his head curiously, but Tony’s no longer paying attention. His coffee-colored eyes have shifted to where his fiancée was counting down with May.

 

Pepper smiled and waved Tony over. No doubt she didn’t want to miss catching a kiss as the clock struck twelve.

 

“Happy New Year, Stark.”

 

Stephen hadn’t heard Tony’s response. He’d already conjured a portal and disappeared before the man managed to get the first word out.

 

\---

 

It was disgustingly hot despite the sun having long since gone down. The kind of hot that came just as summer is about to end. Almost as if mother nature wants to remind you that it’s not quite autumn yet.

 

Stephen leaned against the railing of one of the many balconies that overlooked the expansive grounds at the Avengers Compound. Below he could see Peter shove no less than a dozen marshmallows on a long rod before holding it over the large bonfire he had insisted on having before the new school year started. A majority of the Avengers still lingered around the flames, laughing and trying to think up the most ridiculous ghost story.

 

A familiar set of footsteps approached from behind.

 

“Stark,” Stephen groaned, pinching his brow. “Please just go.”

 

In his typical fashion, Tony ignored Stephen as he moved to stand beside him. “Do you remember the last time we were together on a night like this?”

 

It was an unexpected question. One that awoke a pain Stephen had thought was finally suppressed. Nevertheless, as his eyes skimmed the starry summer sky, he found himself answering. “Of course.”

 

 _“Of course?”_ Tony chuckled. “I’m glad to know I left such a good impression.”

 

“Who said it was a good impression?”

 

Tony snorted and moved to stand behind Stephen. “Oh, fuck, Tony,” he whispered roughly over the sorcerer’s shoulder. “Don’t stop, Tony. Please, Tony.”

 

Stephen shuddered.

 

“Sounds like the words of a man having a good time. In fact, I’d call it _fantastic._ Wouldn’t you, _Stephen?_ ”

 

 _“Tony,”_ he relented breathlessly, turning so they stood face to face. “I can’t do this. _We_ can’t do thi-”

 

“I left Pepper,’ Tony blurts out in the middle of Stephen’s sentence. “It’s over. It’s been over for a long time I think.”

 

 “Tony-”

 

“You said this was the future where everyone was happy, remember?” he interrupted again.

 

Stephen nodded silently.

 

“Then be happy.” Tony reached forward to pull Stephen’s hands into his own. “Just…be happy.”

 

\---

 

The stars twinkled brightly above the breezy sheer canopy as the couple swayed lazily in the center of the dance floor.

 

“Would you do it again?” Stephen asked, repeating the question Tony had asked him several winters ago. “Thanos? Titan? The whole shebang?”

 

“For this?” Tony asked with a dazzling smile. “I would. Every time.”

 

And for the second time that day, Tony leaned in to kiss the one he could now call his husband.


End file.
